"The name of the Thousand Sons was taken from the initial series of genetic imprints made from the tissue of their Primarch, Magnus the Red. Magnus was a ruddy-haired and extremely large Primarch with a single eye set deep in his broad forehead. Because of this he was sometimes known as Cyclopean Magnus or the Red Cyclops. The truth was that his soul had already been touched by Chaos, and Tzeentch insinuated into him a fascination with the occult forces of the warp and the secrets that lay within its fabric. From his imprint a thousand Space Marines were created: the Thousand Sons of Magnus. An entire Legion of many thousands of Space Marines was subsequently raised to take part in the Great Crusade, but the Legion always kept the title of the Thousand Sons.
"

The Tranquility Campaign

23/04/2010 6AM

Heavy bolter fire raked the street as the enemy Landspeeder made a long low pass over Tarven's Sternguard Squad blowing sizable chunks from the road surface and showering his men in dirt and debris.Unlike many of his fellow Mantis Warriors Brother Sergeant Tarven had no problem with the thought of fighting fellow Astartes.

This was not to say that he was a callous or evil hearted man by any means but was more attributed to the strength of his character and conviction. He saw the Fire Hawks as an enemy that threatened the survival of his Chapter that would take the lives of his battle brothers without a second thought. Many of the others had questioned the validity and legality of their actions, whether or not they had entered into a conflict that could very well threaten the stability of the Imperium itself.

The Lamenters had now joined on the side of the Astral Claws in other theatres of war and word was spreading that the Executioners would soon be joining them.

Tarven had paid little attention to the rumours instead focusing on the job at hand. After the Fire Hawks had established a beach head it had not taken long for the fighting to spread from the dense jungles of the southern continent to the cities that were sporadically dotted across the planet surface.

The Mantis Warriors had the advantage of not only knowing the lay of the land but had used the greenskins to their advantage by leading their enemies into the midst of the fragment Ork forces.

On more than one occation the Fire Hawks had given chase after isolated Mantis Warrior squads only to be lead into the path of a marauding greenskin warband. Sniper teams picked off officers and Nobz during the following chaos that took place as the two forces clashed weakening their command structures.

t was not an honourable strategy by any stretch of the imagination but it was effective.

Tarven watched the Landspeeder pass over his head and climb into the sky in a high arc of ascent. He lost sight of it as it passed in front of the twin suns of Traquillity but he knew only too well that it was positioning itself for another attack run.

The remaining seven men of his squad had taken up positions on either side of the street making difficult targets as they sheltered in the ruined hab-blocks. Tarven stood defiantly in the middle of the road.

The sunlight glinted off the yellow hull of the landspeeder as it turned steeply diving into a steady decline. Tarven knelt as he placed his boltgun slowly on the floor beside him, never taking his eyes off the approaching skimmer.

The crack of heavy bolter fire could be heard in the distance as the shells began to whine past him smashing into fallen masonary and blowing apart several small walls and weakening the foundations of the ruins either side of the long since abandoned street.

His squad began to sporadically return fire, their bolter shells distracting the speeder's gunner enough to ensure that his shots went wild. Tarven remained motionless as he knelt in the debris, patiently awaiting the moment as he listened to sound of the shells leaving the heavy bolter's barrel. Whilst to lesser troops the pop and crack of heavy bolter shells was something to be rightly feared, the mass reactive shells capable of tearing his mighty superhuman frame apart should a round hit him squarely. The sounds of the speeder spoke to him like no other might understand. The whine of the engine, the time difference between the shot leaving the barrel and the time it took to pass him by, the click of afterburners all called out to him telling exactly how far the speeder was away from his position.

Without warning he reached into the rubble and grabbed the melta-bomb he'd placed there earlier. With startling speed he rose to his feet and began running at full pace towards the approaching skimmer.

The pilot realised too late what the sergeant had intended all along as he tried to climb but it was too late. Tarven sprinted up the side of a fallen wall and vaulted into the air. What seemed like a lifetime passed before his free arm hooked around the speeder's lower sensor array and wrenched him backwards as the speeder lurched drunkenly from the impact. His legs trailing as the pilot increased speed so as not to come crashing down Tarven activated the melta-bomb and slammed it onto the bottom of the vehicle. It's mono-molecular bonding clamp fixed firmly to his target Tarven released his grip slamming into the ground at speed before deftly rolling into a controled fall and slammed into the rubble below.

He quickly scrambled to his feet as he watched the doomed speeder climb sharply before blossoming into a ball of fire as the melt-bomb tore it's frame apart.

He did not stop to congratulate himself as he steadied himself and headed off back to his squad. He felt no remorse for his actions he had simply proven himself the better soldier, there was no seed of hatred taking root in his heart, no internal struggle within his soul. This was his enemy and he would treat them with the respect they deserved and kill them like any other.

This fight might have been won but the war was just begining.

Mantis Warriors

23/04/2010 6AM

Fall from Grace

The assault ramp of the Thunder hawk hissed as it lowered slowly to the floor of the flight deck of the Emperor's Blade.Smoke billowed from the inside of the gun ship’s troop bay as the gargoyle incense burners decontaminated the cargo within.The weapons of the enemy were great in number but none were as insidious as the threat of orkoid spores or tyranids microbes. To the superhuman bodies of the Astartes they would be little more than an irritant but to the human serfs and sensitive equipment they posed a dire threat that could spread with disastrous consequences throughout the Strike Cruisers air ducts.

Veteran Sergeant Tarven stamped down the ramp, the heavy footfalls of his plate armoured boots sounding out his frustration.

"Whose damn fool idea was it to withdraw mid-campaign" Tarven gruffly grumbled out loud to no-one in particular. The veteran was not one to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Throne Mathus," The sergeant spoke with a familiarity of brotherly bond forged in the fire of countless battle that exceeded the formalities of rank "the green skins had turned on their heels, without a continued pursuit they will return and in greater number!" He growled but his protests fell on deaf ears as he stormed off.

"We have more pressing concerns," Horton began to keep pace with Tarven as he made for an open water container and poured the contents over his head. The soot and dust of battle mingled with bloodstains as it streaked over his face as he ran his hand through the crop of hair that had grown since the campaign had begun.

"Lord Huron is here meeting with the Chapter Master" Horton continued, the concern although present in his voice clearly went over the head of the furious sergeant. "There is talk of a rebellion!"

"Three more days!" Tarven continued "Three more days and the threat would have been extinguished from Tranquillity for good!"

"EMPEROR'S TEETH SAUL!" The usually calm visage of the Captain gave way to impatient rage and his blasphemous outburst that caused all on the flight deck to stop mid-track "Lord Huron brings news of the Adeptus Mechanicus imposing sanctions that threaten the sovereignty of the Astartes themselves!"

Tarven was dumbstruck by the Captain's outburst.

"We are going to war brother" Horton said solemnly "the Astral Claws have already been fired upon by vessels of the Fire Hawks, you will get your chance to return to Tranquillity but this time the fight will be with our brother Astartes!"

Tarven stared at his brother in disbelief.

"Prepare your men brother; you leave for Tranquillity within the hour!"

Site Changes

5/10/2009 7AM

As is the will of the Changer of Ways all things must change and to satisfy Tzeentch I am refreshing the site and giving a new look and feel. It is after all about 3 years old.

To that end I am implementing a lot of changes over the next few weeks and months, fitting in what I can around my busy work life and painting life.

The first major change is the gallery sections. I have been experimenting with Flash galleries and have implemented the CoolIris flash gallery system to give all galleries a wow factor.